


Let You Down

by chiixil_84



Series: *Megalovania Intensifies* [3]
Category: Undertale, Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Horrortale (Undertale), Eventual Relationships, F/M, Gen, Horrortale Papyrus (Undertale), Horrortale Sans (Undertale), Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Other Ships Not Mentioned in Tags, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Post-Undertale, Post-Undertale Genocide Route, Post-Undertale Neutral Route, Post-Undertale Neutral Route - Empress Undyne Ending, Post-Undertale Neutral Route - Near Genocide Ending, References to Undertale Genocide Route, Spoilers - Undertale Genocide Route, Spoilers - Undertale Neutral Route, Suffering Sans (Undertale), Tags Contain Spoilers, Tags May Change, Triggers, Undertale Neutral Route, Undertale Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-30
Updated: 2020-02-19
Packaged: 2020-11-08 04:54:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20829734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chiixil_84/pseuds/chiixil_84
Summary: Her parents used to go to a campsite all the time when they were kids, but as they grew up, they never found time to go back. Now that they've had a kid and she's grown enough to take care of herself, her parents decided it was time to situate themselves back into the campground, citing their own youthful adventures to their 18-year-old daughter as a reason for their 3-month visit.With this in mind, Constance fully expected her summer to be boring, planning accordingly with the things she packed. She did /not/ expect to find herself smitten with the most popular boy at the site, and most certainly never would've guessed that he would eventually return the affection. After a few weeks of flirty passes and a few longing touches, he eventually offers to take her to a place she'll be the first to visit.Of course, she goes -- she's young, not stupid.Expecting a day of adventure in a nearby town, they instead end up at a cabin in the woods. It was all looking like a perfect romance novel until it took a very horrific turn.Will Connie survive these monsters long enough to escape the forest?





	1. Rockefeller

**Author's Note:**

> Taking this a bit out of the norm, that the monsters aren't underground anymore. They eventually got their hands on 7 souls, but by the time they get them, the towns surrounding Mt Ebott have been ghost towns for decades. Most of the SOULs gathered were of passersby on the mountain who didn't believe in the old stories about the monsters beneath, becoming nothing more than hapless hikers.
> 
> The humans didn't want to risk monsters overrunning their cities, so they left. Almost like a time capsule, the towns have been left mostly untouched. Monsters took up the places long forgotten by humans, but, now that humans aren't replenishing the monsters with trash, they're starving. Hunting and fishing only get so far when their main source of food had been the flesh of a different type for so long.
> 
> -
> 
> AKA: stupid 18-year-old girl finds herself in the cabin of some skeletons who don't take kindly to strangers.
> 
> -
> 
> (I literally wrote this up quickly, since I'd been mulling it over for a while. I love the idea of Horrortale by Sour-Apple-Studios (https://www.deviantart.com/sour-apple-studios). Saw the flash games they made forever ago, and fell in love with how horrifying it all was. I had to make my own story, all these years later. Constance has a purple SOUL, and she pretty much knows this off the bat. So that's one mystery out of the way lol. But, I'm not really sure if I want this to be post-Neutral or -Genocide. We'll see I guess?)
> 
> Thank you for your support!!
> 
> [edit: she's not the unnamed girl from my other little snippets!! She's an entirely different girl. That one has a blue SOUL and Constance is just an idiot lol]

The entire summer, one of the older boys at the campsite had been giving her all of his extra attention whenever he could spare it. Having never been in this type of situation, _of course_ Connie couldn’t help but feel wanted – isn’t that what every girl wanted? He was handsome, all of the other boys and girls their age seemed to know and idolize him, and even her parents had taken a liking to him. With it being their first time at this campsite, he took it upon himself to show them around, giving them tips from where the best hiking trails were to what time was best to beat all other foot traffic to the nearby lake and set up shop for a day of fishing.

All the while, he kept shooting her these blinding smiles and would whisper the sweetest things to her when no one else was around.

She felt like a very lucky 18-year-old girl. Her parents seemed to notice her brightened attitude, since they rarely interrupted her time with Tyler.

So, when he invited her to a day trip to a nearby town, neither she nor her parents thought anything untoward – if anything, she thought it would be _magical_. Just the two of them, alone, while he showed her the sights?

It was a dream come true for a dream she hadn’t known she wanted.

With just a backpack full of two days’ worth of supplies (and, of course, some emergency equipment as well), Connie followed Tyler into his dad’s red pick-up truck and didn’t ask questions for the entire ride. She was too caught up in the excitement she was feeling to notice he’d passed by nearly five exits that would’ve taken them to the city he’d named off to her parents, instead relishing in the way he put his hands on her exposed knees and would whisper how she was _his _girl.

Even when they parked in what looked to be a run-down Wil-Mart, she didn’t think anything of it – _her _town had nearly the same exact looking shopping center, just with a brighter coat of paint – and accepted without question that they would just have to walk to the place he wanted to show her.

Walking through what was obviously a long-forgotten town, Connie couldn’t help but snap a few photos of the vintage signs and odd little house they passed. It was too beautiful for her not to – besides, this was _her _adventure with _Tyler_. This would make a fantastic story to tell the other teens back at the campsite, if not one to tell their grandchildren one day, and she wanted any future listeners to truly get a _feel _for the place.

If she didn’t trust Tyler so entirely, she’d wonder if anyone really lived in this town.

An hour passed, then another, and it wasn’t until well into the afternoon of them walking that she stood at the edge of an overgrown forest, finally questioning where they were.

Tyler noticed her hesitation and looked back at her, that grin of his brighter than the sun overhead. “What’s the matter?” he called to her. He was hardly twenty feet away, hardly just a few feet into the forest, but it was like the canopy was swallowing his voice before it could escape its old branches.

A shiver ran down her spine as she shouted back, “Tyler, where are we going? We haven’t seen anyone since this morning.” _It’s not like you’re leading me to a cliff to push me off, right? _She forced that thought down with a swallow, fidgeting with the straps over her chest absently.

His smile still on his face, he took a few steps toward her until he exited the forest. Tyler held his hand out to her, beautiful green eyes staring intently at her as he said, “C’mon, babe. It’s just over here. I’ve been coming here since I was a kid. I just want you to be the first one to see it.”

Her heart skipped about three beats at his sudden use of a pet name. Nodding, she felt herself floating over to him to grasp his hand, unable (or untrusting of herself) to speak. She let him lead her deeper into the forest, never letting her hand go.

Within about twenty minutes, a clearing opened up before them, a beautiful log cabin squarely settled in the middle of the wildflower field. It looked straight out of a fairytale, it was so perfect.

_ All it needs is smoke pumping out of the chimney, and it’ll be a real fairytale, _ she thought.

She must’ve said it aloud, though, because Tyler gave her another wide grin as he replied with a laugh. “Fairytale? Hardly. But, seeing as you _are _the first to see this –” He hoisted her up as if she were a stuffed animal, carrying her bridal-style in his arms as he trekked through the field. Connie squeaked and latched onto him, earning herself another one of his bell-like laughs.

_ God, _ she thought, biting her lip as she leaned into his chest. _I could stay here forever with him, and I’d be perfectly okay with that. _The teenager took in his smell, enjoying the woodsy-campfire smell that seemed to follow him everywhere. If she could buy this as a candle, she wouldn’t want to smell anything else for as long as she lived.

His footsteps changed from padding softly through the field to heavy stomps as he carefully climbed the wooden stairs, knocking her out of her daydream. Carefully, Tyler settled Connie down onto her feet, fishing through his pockets before pulling out a giant skeleton key.

With a wink, he said, putting it into the slot of the door, “Found this when I was about ten. Before then, I just shimmied a window open with one of my knives.” The lock clicked softly, and Tyler bowed slightly and motioned for her to go first.

Flushing furiously, Connie accepted the gesture. “Thank you,” she said as she passed, praying her voice was as even as she wanted it to be. She took a few steps into the dark space, allowing her eyes to adjust to the cabin.

“You're welcome,” he said somewhere behind her, closing the door quietly.

Connie could hear him moving around, the flintlock of a lighter occasionally breaking the sounds of their off-sync breathing and shuffling feet. The old oil lamps he was lighting slowly began to illuminate the nearly-empty cabin, exposing what looked like an old holiday getaway.

“Wanna go find some firewood from the shed?” he asked as he popped into one of the back rooms, the flintlock scraping following his voice out to Connie in the living room. “We’ll be staying here tonight.”

“Guess that’s why you asked for s’mores rations?” she shot back half-joking, her eyes still wandering the room. Whether he answered her or not, she didn’t really notice. The teenager still felt like she was on cloud nine at this point, and begged God she would never come down from this high.

Carefully unlatching and then stepping out through the door directly opposite from the door they entered the cabin, Connie shielded her eyes to look for the shed Tyler told her about, spotting it almost immediately: it was nearly hidden by the trunk of an old tree, its branches shading the sun-bleached wooden shed from any further damage.

_ Just needs a few new coats of paint, _she thought as she skipped through the grass, humming quietly. _Then it wouldn’t look so ghastly. Maybe we could paint it sky blue? Or a barn red? _Whatever the colors had been before, it had long-since faded, leaving behind a nearly bone-colored structure – an almost perfect shade to be repainted from.

Stopping at the front of the shed, she noticed an old, rusted chain on the shed’s handles, keeping her from opening it more than an inch. “Huh,” Connie said after a moment of wiggling the chains. She put her hands on her hips, chewing on her lip thoughtfully. “Maybe the skeleton key would work?”

Making her way back into the cabin, she heard Tyler cursing as he stormed through the house. “Everything okay?” she asked as she popped her head inside. The front door swung shut in the middle of her question, causing her to take a moment to wonder why it’d be swinging in the first place. “Tyler?” Connie eventually asked, stepping fully into the living room. The lights of the oil lamps gave her plenty of light to see, but for some reason, she felt like she was missing something.

The front door eventually clicked shut, returning to its proper resting place and once again leaving her with just the light shining in from the back door.

Connie noticed Tyler left their two backpacks on the kitchen counter, and it made her heart fall through her stomach. _The only reason why he’d run out of here so fast is if there is a bear in here, _she thought, panic flooding through her as her eyes flickered over to the back rooms. _He did say it’s been a year since he’s been here __– __wh__at if it’s some other wild animal that holed up in here?_

As she figured out what her options were, she heard some quiet mumbling – _quite obviously English _– echoing from the back room.

_ Or, worse, _Connie thought, feeling the blood rush from her face. _Squatters._

She was _so _fucked.

Slowly walking over to her backpack to look for the machete they’d packed, she hoped it wasn’t some crazy, drug-addicted person who would much rather eat her than let her go.

They’d let _Tyler _go; why wouldn’t they let her go?

Quickly she grabbed her backpack, trying to make as little noise as she rummaged for the weapon, her eyes never leaving the doors to those rooms. Before, she’d thought Tyler was silly for insisting they both carry this weapon on top of some other heavy-duty knives, but now she felt like she could kiss him (if only she’d find a way out of here before needing to resort to that degree of defense).

Before she could grasp the handle, she felt something cold appear behind her, sending shivers down her spine that cemented her in place.

A laugh came from whoever stood behind her, causing her body to lock up with panic. After a moment, the voice whispered, words grating from disuse, “what a fella, huh? leavin' you all alone here with us.”

She couldn’t will herself to turn around to look at the man, even if she wanted to.

In a really quiet voice, forcing out each syllable with every ounce of strength she held, Connie said, “Please just let me go. I’m sorry we interrupted.”

A million eyes seemed to bore into her, the cold intensifying as an uneven silence stretched between her and the man behind her. She could feel hot tears welling in her eyes, but, somehow, they didn’t fall.

Another moment passed, and he laughed again. “and be rude to our first guests in years? where’s the hospitality in that?”

Squeezing her eyes shut as he spoke, hot tears rolled down her cheeks as she exhaled a shaky breath. _God, I’m not getting out of here. _There was no way. She couldn’t _see _a way.

Except to play smart.

“Okay,” the teenager said, breathing sharply through her nose to regulate her heartbeat. She kept her hand on the backpack, her knuckles white as she held the canvas.

A moment passed, and the man said, “now, about that machete.” When she locked up again, he laughed at her once more. “yeah, i knew about it. no one travels these woods without protection.” A heavy hand fell on her shoulder, squeezing tight enough to make her whimper. “not even a stupid teenager is beyond safety measures.”

Slowly, she put the backpack up onto the counter once more, watching with hazy sight as her fingers slipped away from its lip. The hand gave her another tight squeeze before patting the now-sore shoulder, now simply resting there.

“now, go take a seat.”

She moved automatically, her posture rigid once she sat down on the fraying couch. It didn’t look like much, but it was better than the dusty floor. Connie didn’t dare to turn her head to look at the man as he muttered something under his breath, beeping noises quietly trilling through his words as his fingers clicked on (what she presumed was) his cell phone.

After a few choice curses from the man, he said, his words firm and voice tight, “don’t fuckin’ move. ya hear me?” She nodded furiously, swearing she heard her neck cracking from the speed that she was moving at. “good. i’ll know if you do.” His heavy footsteps crossed the floor, heading to the still-open back door. He paused just at the door, his feet creaking slightly as if he was swaying. “it’s almost dark. you don’t wanna be out in these woods when it’s dark.”

Before she could ask what he meant, the door was closing, along with any chance of talking her way out of this mess.

Gently touching her shoulder, hissing as her fingertips went over the welts his hands had made in her flesh, Connie said to herself, “At least I’m alive.”

The words almost felt like ash in her mouth the moment she spoke them, but it gave her the tiniest bit of hope that she could make it out of this in one piece.

_ What’s the worst that could happen to me? _She chanced a look over her shoulder to look at the closed doors. _If I play their game, I could just go home and need more emotional therapy than – hopefully – anything physical._

All she could do was wait.


	2. Finders, Key-pers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connie has a chat with the residents of the cabin.

Connie waited for what felt like an eternity, staring at the fireplace’s dusty mantle. She wondered offhandedly if, in the time since Tyler had come back to the cabin, the guy (and whoever else he was with) had recently moved in. The thought about them being squatters came back, but passed with the next moment.

Sure, it was dusty in here, but not _neglected _-dusty. More like, ‘I dust once a month and sweep everyday’ type of maintenance, since nothing really seemed out of place. It looked like whoever had moved into the cabin really cared for it, since it wasn’t in disrepair. Surely, someone who was squatting wouldn’t do that. (Besides, that chain on the shed wouldn’t have been left untouched, and the doors or windows would’ve been broken into without the skeleton key Tyler had.)

_ No, _Connie thought. _Either this is their home and Tyler happened to show up for all of those years without noticing them, or it__'__s a vacation rental__. _She sighed, rubbing her eyes with the heel of her palms. _We__ just broke into their house... __God, I’m never going to live this down._

_ But what if Tyler had been lying? _ The thought popped into the back of her mind, almost feeling like a reminder that she left the light on in the bathroom and not something nefarious. The teenager’s face scrunched up at the thought, even if it made sense: what if he _hadn’t _actually found the key years ago, and instead just stole it at some point?

And now the owner (or, at the very least, the resident) of the cabin wanted to have a stern talk to her about trespassing, the dangers of going alone into some house in the woods, the woods themselves... Who knew how far away emergency services were, anyway?

This was far better than getting shot and having to find out the hard way how long it’d take for an ambulance to come, she supposed. Living out this far in the woods had to force someone to protect themselves one way or another, and a heavy-duty rifle had to be the best form of it.

“yeah, she’s in here, bro,” she heard the first guy say from behind the door, his voice loud even through the wood. It was that kind of loudness that someone made when they wanted to be heard. There was some more shuffling on the deck outside, and their continued hesitation in walking inside made her wonder what they were waiting on.

It was almost as if they knew she was spooked, and didn’t want to scare her more. It would’ve been a nice gesture, if she wasn’t so worried about Tyler.

A part of her hoped he got away, and was on his way home to get her parents to fix this mess. This was mostly her fault, anyway: had she not been so excited to see his special place, he wouldn’t have brought her here, and both Connie and Tyler would still be in his dad’s red pick-up, probably laughing over some Mach smoothies...

The sound of the door opening drew her from her thoughts, but because of the feeling in her gut – nerves? or maybe it was just her guilt – she couldn’t find the strength to turn around and face them. She could hear two sets of distinct footsteps: one was sluggish with hardly any sound to it at all, while the other was almost set to the cadence of a marching drum. Connie could’ve sworn the first guy was the owner of the slower footsteps, but she suddenly realized she didn’t remember how he sounded when he moved.

_ Maybe they’re veterans? _the teenager wondered. It _would _explain why they were out here all alone, and the gruffness in their voices... _They certainly sound old enough. _It almost gave her a headache to think about all of this, but nothing else seemed to fit in with what little she currently knew about them, like how two brothers just _happened _to live this far in the woods and one of them knew she had a machete in her pack. It was all very odd.

A moment passed, and the first guy said, “c’mon, don’t be so rude.” A quiet _oof _came from the other guy, and she could only think it came from a quick elbow to the side. It certainly sounded like it, anyway.

“Welcome, Girl,” finally came the second voice, sounding quite strained yet still _very _loud. Was he someone who had to use his voice all the time, like a drill sergeant or a deejay? “You’re A Bit Away From The Roads. Did You Get Lost?”

“the other one had a key,” the first interjected softly.

There was some shuffling, and then the second guy said, “A Key? Impossible! We Only Have Two Keys, And We Have Them Both.” The first guy coughed. More shuffling occurred, then: “You Lost Yours, Didn’t You?”

“what can i say, bro? i can’t key-p hold of anything that isn’t locked down on me already.” A soft _thwack _went through the air, and she could only imagine the second guy hit the first, if his groans were anything to go by.

Turning around, finally feeling like these two weren’t there to hurt her, Connie said, “Tyler had a key he said he fou –” Her eyes went wide as her eyes fell on two, very not-human humanoids, her explanation dying in her throat.

_ Skeletons_.

Both skulls swung around to look at her, tiny little pinpricks the size of marbles in their sockets. If she wasn’t so scared, she would probably be curious – but one of them had a _very _gnarly set of teeth, and the other had a grisly chunk of his skull missing.

She felt like a fish out of water, with her mouth hanging open and her breathing coming in sharp breaths. Connie couldn’t comprehend what was happening, and felt like the world had been tugged out from underneath her feet.

The shorter one (_who came up to the taller skeleton’s chest, and _**_that _**_guy was nearly touching the roof of the cabin’s high ceilings_) regarded her with an odd look on his face, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his grey hoodie. The hole in his head was jarring, almost like the shock of watching a car crash happen over and over again.

_ But he seemed fine, regardless. _It was as strange as it was horrifying to think that someone – even, obviously, a _monster _– could survive from a traumatic wound like that.

Her eyes snapped back up to the taller one as he called out to her again, calling her ‘girl’ in that loud voice. It made her want to shout at him at the way he was treating her, but something – whether it was the growing oddness of the shorter skeleton’s expression or the guilt raging like wildfire in her gut – kept her from doing more than politely asking, “Could you repeat that?”

“Humans And Their Attention Spans,” the taller skeleton huffed, crossing his arms over his chest as he shook his head. “I _Said _It Is Strange You Knew How To Find This Cabin.”

Swallowing hard, Connie settled back onto the couch, forcing her breathing to slow as she took in her situation.

“I’m sorry,” she eventually said, looking at the taller skeleton’s face. His mouth looked like it was wood gone through a shredder, and it made her wince at the thought of the amount of pain he must’ve been in (unless, monsters didn’t feel pain? was that a thing?). “The boy who brought me here, Tyler, we’re...” She exhaled sharply, then said, “We’re not from around here.”

The skeletons shared a look.

She feared she’d said something oh-so-very wrong, and that her chances of getting out of here were dwindling quickly.

The taller one looked back at her first, asking, “Where Are You From, Then, If Not Here?”

She gave a half-hearted shrug. “My parents used to live in a town near the mountain, and knew of a campground still running that they knew of when they were kids. Some –” She waved her hand slightly, rolling her eyes half-heartedly, mostly to keep her mind off of _bad things_. “– family bonding experience, I guess. It worked, for the most part. We’ve been having fun.”

“guess that kid was with your family, too?” the shorter skeleton said. Connie shook her head.

“No, um...” The teenager found herself laughing, feeling that bubbly feeling in her chest again from earlier. “We met at the campsite, a few months ago. He noticed me one day, and we just... hit it off.” She began twiddling with her fingers, hoping some of the nervous energy would fall through her fingertips. “He just wanted to show me something special, which is why we were out here.” Her eyes focused back onto the brothers, shifting from one to the other.

“Really, if I knew you were living here, I wouldn’t have let him take us here. It – it was a surprise, he said.” The guilt pooled on her tongue as she added, her voice quiet, “I’m sorry we trespassed. I... I thought since he had a key, it was okay.” The teenager shrugged. “Like, it was some abandoned treasure that was just for us.”

Connie saw the shorter one shuffle, but wasn’t focusing on either of the brothers. She missed the campsite already, and prayed Tyler and her parents would come soon.

“yer right about one thing,” the shorter one finally said. She looked at him, but he wasn’t looking at her, his gaping hole the only thing she could see on his face. He’d turned completely around to face his brother, his back slightly turned toward her. “this place really _is _abandoned. but it ain’t a treasure.”

“Right. It Is Very Dangerous Out Here, Girl.” Connie looked at the taller skeleton, his hands gesturing wildly as he spoke. “Bears, And Not To Mention Mountain Lions, And The Poisonous Flora, And –”

“us,” his brother interjected, cutting his brother off. As he spoke, he turned to look over his shoulder at her, the terrifyingly empty socket beneath that gaping hole boring into Connie. It sent a shock through her like a live wire.

“There’s That, Too,” his brother hummed in agreement, though it seemed that he wasn’t heading in that direction when he was speaking.

A minute passed in silence, the cabin pressurized with an uncomfortable atmosphere.

She eventually said, “Am I in a lot of trouble?”

The brothers shared a look again, until the shorter one sighed, shrugging at the taller one. The taller one said, “Yes, But Not As Much As You Think.”

Hope bloomed in her chest. “So, I can go?” _Maybe Tyler didn’t leave me, _she thought, her heart swelling at the thought. _Maybe he was waiting to see if I got out, and he's just been keeping the car running so we could get out of here, and –_

“do you have a ride?” the shorter skeleton said. “i checked the nearby road, but all i could see were tracks. they looked new, so i figured they were from you, since we don’t get many repeat customers around here.”

Connie asked, confusion clear in her voice, “You already checked in town? That’s so far away.” _And it’s been like, what, ten minutes since I last saw you? _she thought, biting her tongue so she wouldn’t accidentally say it and come off as rude.

Turning so that both still-empty sockets faced her, he said, “i know a shortcut.”

“Okay, even with a _shortcut_,” she pressed, her brow furrowing. “Are you _sure _you didn’t see a red truck? We _just _got here a while ago. Even if Tyler ran, he couldn’t have _left _me...”

She swiveled so her back was pressing into the couch, hiding her face in her hands as the fear resurfaced in her thoughts. _He _**_left _**_me here. How could he have done that?_

Connie heard some shuffling from the two brothers, but didn’t hear them come closer to her.

“look, town isn’t safe,” the shorter one said after a moment.

“There Isn’t A Safe Place For Humans Within Twenty Miles Of Here, Really,” the taller one interjected.

More shuffling, then: “since we don’t really have a car, can you call someone to come pick you up at the town?”

Shooting her head up at the suggestion, Connie jumped off the couch and ran right between the brothers, scavenging through the backpacks to try and find her cell phone.

Unfortunately, it had died. Of _course _she hadn’t brought a charging block, just her cable.

Groaning in frustration, she said, shaking the useless phone as she spoke, “Unless you’re able to charge this, I can’t call anyone.” Her parents left their own cell phones at home, and only really used some ancient phone hooked up to their RV. She hadn’t bothered memorizing the number for it, since it was always in her phone. Now, she was really screwed.

“So, You Can Stay Here?” the taller one said after a moment. Connie craned her head back to stare at his face, but his gaze was on his brother.

Before she could speak, the other brother said, “seems like she has no choice, paps.” She turned to look at him, but he wasn’t staring at either of them. “i’ll go look around town for something to charge that.”

And with the blink of an eye, he was gone.

Connie would’ve jumped in surprise (or fear?) had the taller skeleton not beat his brother to rile her fear up as he began to stamp his feet like a child throwing a tantrum. She clung to the kitchen counter, backing up as far as she could go without sitting on top of it.

“Those Shortcuts Are Lazy!” he said, more to himself than her. “Sans, You Lazybones. Walk For Once In Your Life!” A soft little beep came from (who she guessed was ‘Paps’) his pocket, and he fished out a cell phone that looked nearly ten years old. He mumbled something on the screen to himself, but she only caught a few pieces of it, before the taller skeleton huffed and ran outside to yell some more.

Even from inside the house, she could hear him as if he were right next to her. _He really _**_does _**_talk loud,_ Connie thought, slowly peeling herself away from the counter. _So, he and ‘Sans’ just live out here? But I thought monsters died out?_

Guess high school was really useless in real-world situations.

_ Suits me just fine, _ she thought, grabbing the two backpacks and dumping their contents on the kitchen counter. _Just __gotta __see what else he left behind, too._

After finding a few days worth of granola and jerky, some toiletries, and two gallons of water, she fished down beyond the first aid kits and weapons (that she was thankful the skeletons hadn’t taken) and found an extra change of clothes.

It was better than nothing.

_ I hope Tyler hurries home,_ Connie thought as she put everything back into the packs, careful to hide the knives and machete deep inside. _I don’t want to stay here longer than I have to._

She didn’t want to mention how very unsafe she felt with this whole situation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wanted this to be a bit longer, but whatever lol. Happy to get this out.
> 
> Connie meets Sans and Papyrus, and she's only calm because she's in shock (also, stupid teenage brain keeps her from thinking about what's really going on).
> 
> Thanks for your support!


	3. Key Details

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connie has a conversation with the skeleton brothers, and finds a few things to help her out.

Connie couldn’t find the energy to leave her spot on the couch as the skeletons left, too scared and all too unsure of what was allowed and wasn’t, offhandedly wondering what was the best way that people survived horror stories like this. Either way, she needed to be more careful with keeping the flippant attitude under wraps, especially seeing as how she knew _nothing _about monsterkind.

A shiver ran up her spine at the thought of the skeletons. _I thought all monsters were extinct. What are two of them doing in a cabin at Mt. __Ebott__?_

Honestly, Connie was pretty sure _everyone _thought that monsters were ancient history. Once-cherished items of monsterkind from centuries ago were held in museums to show the lifecycle of the magical creatures, speaking of their life-long bond with these objects; documentaries toured monster villages to explain that without magic, the structures couldn’t sustain their form and crumbled over time; and schools spent entire semesters teaching children that monsters had gone underground to live out the rest of their lives quietly when magic left the world, leaving humans as the only apex form of life on Earth.

She wasn’t sure what to believe now, and sure as Hell wasn’t going to ask.

The back door of the cabin opened, breaking the silence Connie had settled herself into for the last half-hour while Paps yelled outside (most likely on his phone, she realized too late). She watched as he stooped to get into the doorway, but even calling it _stooping _seemed wrong – he crumpled his body like an adult would to enter a child’s playhouse. It would’ve been comical, if she wasn’t watching the skeleton _rearrange _his bones in order to clear the doorway.

“Now Then!” he said, dusting off his shirt as his bones snapped back into place with a few sick _pops_. “Let’s Find Somewhere For You To Settle For The Night.” Connie just blinked at him, too many emotions warring inside of her.

Should she just ignore their advice and run out into the woods back to town? Maybe someone would find her if she got back to the highway, and she could hitchhike her way back to the campsite. Could she win a fight against him if he tried to harm her? He didn’t look _that _strong, so that might work. What if she just let the brothers do whatever they wanted, working to gain their trust so they would think letting her go was a favor they were giving her? She couldn’t predict how long that might take the skeletons to come to that conclusion, and it screamed _too dangerous _at her.

In the end, the teenager offered, “I could sleep on the couch?” She didn’t want to think about what could’ve been living in the cushions, but didn’t want to agitate him by seeming ungrateful for anything.

Tapping his chin slightly, the tall skeleton finally said, sighing, “That Old Couch _Has _Seen Better Days. But,” he gave a very quick wave of his hand, as if swatting away a fly, “If You Insist. I Can Go Find Something To Get You Comfortable Out Here.” He made a move as if to go get something, then turned his attention back to her. His sockets didn’t have lights like Sans’s, but the corners of them did seem to scrunch like normal eyes would, pushing him into uncanny valley territory. “I Don’t Think I Caught Your Name, Girl.”

“Constance,” she immediately answered, her voice feeling very hoarse. She swallowed the lump in her throat and added, “Or, Connie, if you prefer.” He nodded as she talked.

“Constance Will Do Just Fine,” the skeleton replied, crossing his arms over his chest proudly. “I’m The Great Papyrus! You Already Know Sans, My Lazy Older Brother.”

_ Yeah, for, like, the two minutes he terrified the shit out of me, _she thought, biting her cheek to prevent it from escaping her lips. “Older brother?” she instead questioned, the words grinding out like a missed gear in a manual transmission.

“He’s A Bit Scatterbrained Lately, But He Should Be Coming Home Soon,” he assured her. “Honestly, He Needed Something To Keep Himself To A Task, And Finding That Charger Should Help. He Was Always Good At Finding Things. Now, He’s Just...” The skeleton shrugged slightly. “Different, Now.”

Before she could process what Pap_yrus _had said, she could hear a quiet _oof _from behind the front door. “Speaking Of!” the tall skeleton cheered, opening the door carefully. Sans stood on the other side, looking even more disheveled than before. “Welcome Back, Sans. Did You Find What She Needed?”

With a shrug, Sans said, “yeah, but not what she was hopin’ for.” He pulled a car charger out of his pocket, the tiny plug looking like a screw in comparison to the enormous fingertips holding it.

“Oh, Rats,” Papyrus sighed, stamping his foot once more. “This Isn’t Good At All.” Sans turned to face his brother, the lights in his sockets wavering.

“yeah, exactly.” The two turned to look at her, Papyrus wringing his hands in worry as Sans continued to stare at her with an unreadable expression on his face. 

At least from the taller skeleton, Connie could tell that whatever came with the car charger wasn’t going to be good. “So, what?” she asked. “Can’t we just find a car and hook it up? I remember seeing a bunch in town. That’s, what, a forty-minute walk there and another forty back? Not including your ‘shortcut,’ that is.” The teenager started to get up, already moving to the front door. Neither of the brothers moved, so she stopped, standing right in front of them. “What’re we waiting for?”

“It’s almost dark, Constance,” Papyrus answered softly, eyeing his brother before turning to her fully. The sudden drop in the volume of his voice made her take a step back; he almost sounded _scared_.

She wanted to ask what he was afraid of, but she figured if anything made _these _two nervous, she should probably be, too.

Instead, Connie looked at the windows. “It’s barely late-afternoon,” the teenager countered, frowning. “We’ve got nearly six hours before sundown. Summer always has longer days, so we should be able to make it back well before nightfall.”

Papyrus shuffled his feet, wringing his gloved hands again. The movement sounded like sandpaper, making her offhandedly wonder if that’s what they were made of. “Yes, You’re Right,” he agreed, his voice back to a louder volume. “But, The Night Works Differently Here At Ebott’s Base.”

“‘Works differently’?” she repeated, her brow furling in confusion as she looked between the brothers. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

“trust us, kid,” Sans cut in suddenly, a heavy hand coming down onto the same shoulder he’d grasped earlier. He gave it a much softer squeeze than before, but Connie couldn’t help but wince at the pressure he applied. The lights in his eyes were pinpricks as they stared at her, almost swallowing her if she looked too long. “ya don’t wanna find out what’s out there, whether it’s dark or not.”

After a moment, he let go of her shoulder and took a few steps back, shrugging again. Breaking contact with his eyes made her head feel dizzy, so much so that she almost didn’t catch his right socket winking at her. “we’ll go first thing tomorrow,” Sans said. “promise.”

Disregarding the weird nauseating feeling she got after looking at Sans’s eyes, Connie couldn’t find anything odd about the older skeleton’s behavior. _If they wanted to do something horrible to me, they would’ve done it by now, _Connie told herself, rolling her shoulder to get rid of the ache. _The worst thing about this is that I__’__ll probably jump right out of my skin before this is all over._

“Fine,” she finally grumbled, refusing to look at either monster. She pointed a finger at Sans and repeated, “_First thing_.”

The air seemed to grow lighter after she spoke. Papyrus stopped wringing his hands, becoming excited as he jogged into one of the back rooms and came back out with an armful of blankets. Sans, however, just gave her a quiet ‘huh’ and turned his head away from her, an unreadable smile on his face.

When Papyrus came back out, he created a nest on the couch, talking to Connie the entire time. She could only really understand half of the conversation, trying an effort to respond here and there to keep the conversation flowing, but otherwise, the teenager just tried to keep up with his fast-paced topic changes. She allowed him to settle her into the nest almost like a child would a doll, pillows and blankets that vaguely smelled like mothballs and mint keeping her tucked into the couch cushions.

“Is There Anything You Need, Constance?” Papyrus eventually asked, looming over her with those wide sockets crinkled in worry.

“Um,” she started. “My bags? Please?” He disappeared for a moment, returning with the two backpacks. “Thank you,” she managed. He hummed in acknowledgment, watching her as she sifted through her bag, the skeleton uncharacteristically quiet as she rifled through her things. Connie ignored the lightning that shot through her hand as her fingers traced the rolled-up shirt that held the knives, instead reaching past it to grasp a bottle of water. She zipped the bag closed and took a swig of the water, trying not to feel like an animal under observation.

Papyrus took the bags then, returning them to the counter. “Just Call For Me If You Need Anything Else,” he said. “I’m Going To Find My Brother.”

She hadn’t even realized he’d left.

“Oh, okay,” the teenager said. She tilted up as far as she could out of the nest without disturbing it to call out, “Thanks again, Papyrus.”

He hesitated, his head and shoulders barely in her line of sight, but she could see him shake as he sighed. “Of Course,” he said, stepping out of her sight.

A moment passed, and she heard one of the doors swing as he made his way out.

Connie stared at the ceiling, twisting the cap back onto her water bottle as she weighed her options.

She could still run, if she left now.

The way Sans said _us _came back to her, sending another shiver down her spine. What did he mean by _us_? What was out in the forest at night that he didn’t want her to see?

_ Maybe waiting for morning won’t be so __bad, _she thought, closing her eyes as she settled into the nest.

** |0|0|0|**

“kid. hey, kid, it’s time to wake up. let’s get this show on the road, yeah?”

Her eyes shot open as she was shaken out of sleep, coming face-to-face with Sans. Connie felt her entire body go rigid, a scream settling in her throat as her entire body lit up in a panic. Instead, she managed, her voice tight and her words high pitched, “The _fuck_, man?”

His sockets were empty and his mouth went slack, but after a second he just smiled at her, looking away as he stepped out of her line of sight, mumbling something she couldn’t quite catch.

Huffing irritatedly, Connie started wriggling around the nest, grumbling, “I didn’t_ actually _mean the first thing, what the Hell...” When she finally got out of the cocoon, she looked at Sans. He was pulling on the socket under that gnarly hole, still mumbling to himself, but the lights in his eyes were back. It was a wonder as to how those lights in his head worked, but she knew it had something to do with magic.

Crawling out of the nest and putting her feet on solid ground, Connie held her hands up. “Alright, I’m up. Now what?” Sans turned back to her, his mouth drawn into a tight line with his fingers still knuckle-deep in the socket.

Pulling them out of the inky blackness of the socket, Sans said, stuffing the hand forcefully into his hoodie pocket, “we’re leaving. you’n me.”

“Oh, you mean_ right now _right now?”

He just looked at her. “uh-huh.”

“Well, um,” Connie started, spinning around to look at the kitchen. Her bags were once again on the counter, undisturbed; at least she had that going for her. “I need to wake up, and –”

With a huff, he said, “whatever. do what ya gotta do. i’ll be out front.”

She watched him leave through the front door, his footfalls barely making a noise on the floor despite his size. Was it another monster thing?

_ At least I __don__’t__have to pee yet, _she thought, sighing. _Hopefully, the toilets in town are useable still._

Racing over to the kitchen, she grabbed the bags and slung either one over a shoulder, making doubly sure she had her phone and its cable in her pants pocket before following Sans outside. His back was to her as he looked out at the forest. Stopping beside him, she asked, “What’re we going to do? Are we going to take a ‘shortcut’?”

He shrugged. “nah. just follow me, ’n watch yer step.”

And that’s what she did.

Following the exact path that she had taken yesterday with Tyler, she took it today with a skeleton monster. The last 24 hours was almost surreal to think about, and still far too shocking for her to address right now. The hurt hadn’t quite settled in, even if Connie wouldn’t hide the truth if asked for it.

She and Sans walked through the forest quietly, only stopping when they got to the edge of the city. She stood off to his right, looking out to the overgrown city with a little bit of sadness.

Connie wondered what made the residents leave so quickly.

“now,” Sans said, his voice low and rough, “be quiet, ’n don’t do anything stupid. you’ve caused enough problems as-is.”

Dumbfounded, Connie turned to look at the skeleton, but he was staring straight forward with his mouth pulled into a thin smile. He looked distant, and it was starting to grind on her nerves.

“_Be quiet? _We’ve been quiet this entire morning!” she hissed, throwing her hands up. “And now you’re telling me to be quiet like a pet?” He gave her a half-shrug and a noncommittal hum. “Well, I’m not!” Connie said, raising her voice. “What should I be afraid of, Sans? A bear? Or maybe _stupidity _since you think I’m just full of it!”

His head turned ever so slightly, his right socket looking empty and hollow. The smile on his face looked absolutely forced, as if he was grinding his own teeth as he growled, “what did i just tell you?”

Those words and that look sent a bolt of fear through the teenager.

He took a step forward and continued walking as if nothing had happened, his shoulders squared. There was no more room for discussion – it was time to go.

Shaken, Connie followed Sans, giving him a little more space than she had in the forest.

_ Maybe now would be the best time to run, _she thought, her eyes flicking between the old buildings and the back of the monster’s skull. _He can__’__t possibly catch up to me if I lose him through one of these department stores._

Before she could act on her decision, he stopped by the closest car to the forest. He jiggled the handle until the door opened, the hinges groaning as the door moved. “try this one,” he said, moving away from the door to let her into the driver’s seat. “and if it doesn’t have a charge, we’ll go to the next.”

“And... that’s it? That’s how I’m going to get my phone charged?” she asked.

“that’s the plan, kiddo.” Connie frowned at his words.

Angrily, she started, “My name is _Co _–” He waved a hand, cutting her off, the words choking her.

“yeah, yeah. i overheard you ’n paps talkin’.” Sans winked at her again, still only using his right socket to do so. “yer still a kid to me.” He gestured to the open door with one hand, the other holding the car charging plug. “now, please. do what we came for?” The way he said _please _sounded so strained, but she did as he asked, albeit only so she could get closer to leaving this place.

She hooked her phone up to the car and waited, hopeful that she’d get some kind of charge.

After ten minutes, the indicator showing the device was charging still hadn’t appeared.

“Not this one, Sans,” she said, leaning out of the door. She felt the car move as Sans pushed off of it.

“next one it is.”

They repeated this exact scenario three more times until the fifth vehicle finally gave her phone some charge. She squealed in excitement, scaring the skeleton in the backseat so badly he jumped and hit the ceiling.

Connie turned around to face Sans, half an apology tied around her giggles, but her excitement died off when she saw just how upset he was. He looked like a deer in headlights, sockets wide and unseeing as his head swiveled around almost in shock.

“I’m sorry for scaring you,” she immediately said, dropping her voice to a whisper. The teenager held her phone up slightly. “It started to charge.”

Following her arm to the phone in her hand, Sans took a moment to register what she was saying before he sighed, sliding his hands over his face. He laid on the backseat and grumbled between his fingers, “what’d i tell ya about the noise, kid?”

Straining to keep her voice level, she repeated, “I _said _I was sorry.”

The car fell silent once more, Constance constantly worrying over the charge of her phone. She didn’t dare turn it on, comfortable with watching the lightning bolt slowly fill on her oPear screen; she decided it would be best to wait at least an hour to get any and all of the charge it could, then the two could figure out what to do from there.

In the meantime, she had a few questions she couldn’t wait to have answered anymore.

“I thought monsters were extinct?” she blurted out. Sans shifted in the backseat, but she was too scared to look back and see if it was a good thing or not that he was acknowledging her. So, she continued rambling. “I guess everyone did, since I – I never saw or heard anything that said otherwise. We have books and curriculums based on what our world _used to _look like, with magic and monsters shaping it. So, what happened? Why aren’t _you _dead?”

An overwhelming urge to hit her forehead into the steering wheel overcame her at her last question, chastising herself, _God, what an idiotic question. How rude can I be? _She knew she’d pushed it too far with that last one; it’s antagonistic to ask someone why aren’t they dead in _human _culture, and here she was asking someone that anthropologists _insist _is supposed to be long-gone why they still exist. What if he found it antagonistic, too?

Rather than being angry or terrorizing her, however, Sans just sighed. “i dunno, kid. i wish i could answer that for myself, really. none of us monsters should be alive.”

_ ‘__None__’__? How many more are there? _she thought, frowning.

“but here we are, wasting away in the ruins of humanity’s garbage.” She chanced a look in the rearview mirror and saw that Sans was sitting up now, his fingers tracing the edge of his left socket. He looked deep in thought.

Connie hummed thoughtfully. “Is that why your eyes don’t always light up?” She saw him nod.

“somethin’ like that.”

She settled against the seat, watching through the rearview mirror as the skeleton fumbled with his socket. He eventually rubbed the heel of his palm against the socket, yawning as he settled back down.

Turning around, she leaned over the armrest and asked, “Why does your brother call you lazy?”

“because i am.” She hadn’t even finished her question before he answered, deadpanned and absolutely set into his statement. It honestly threw her for a loop.

“Well,” the teenager began slowly. “Then, why are you helping me?”

His left socket cracked open to look at her, the pinprick almost glowing in its hole. “so you can leave us alone,” he muttered, closing the socket again.

“Then you could’ve just let me go and not even cared if I wandered into town at night,” she insisted. He gave a noncommittal hum, but she added, “No way. Don’t try to shrug this off. Why – why are you even trying, if I’m just something you’re annoyed by?”

“because yer annoying,” he moaned, digging his palms against his sockets. “c’mon, tori, lemme just _sleep_.”

She paused for a second, leaning back into the seat. “I’m not Tori,” the teenager said softly. Sans stopped moving, looking like a prop more than a living being with how still he’d become. “My name is _Connie_.”

A moment passed, then Sans began to laugh.

It went on for much longer than she guessed anyone would’ve really laughed for, but she just felt awkward the longer it went on.

“well, hell,” he eventually said, wiping his sockets as if they were filled with tears. “nice to meet ya, i’m-not-tori, i’m sleepy.”

Constance couldn’t help but frown, feeling entirely unsettled by this interaction, but she let it go.

Settling into the driver’s seat, she closed her eyes and let herself relax for a moment.

She just watched the world outside, checking her oPear every so often to see the charge. It was still charging, but she was still nervous to turn it on and drain the battery. Questions still brewed in her head, but at this point, Connie was far too rattled by Sans saying he knew her name then subsequently forgetting it.

_ Is that what Papyrus meant by his brother being ‘different__’__? _she wondered. _Does he have, like, monster dementia or something?_

Or what if it was from that grisly head wound?

Connie wasn’t the _best _student in her psychology class in sophomore year, but she knew that great trauma to the brain could change if not entirely cease its original functionality. Maybe the same thing could happen to a monster skeleton if their skulls were damaged enough?

It would have to be a question saved for later, seeing as how her phone beeped sadly at her. Looking down, she saw it was no longer charging.

“Sans,” she called back, unplugging her phone carefully. “The car died.”

He grumbled, but didn’t move.

Rolling her eyes, Connie sighed. “Fine. I’ll go find another one by myself.” She hopped out of the car and left Sans in the rusty vehicle, looking down the road to see where the next one was.

It wasn’t that far away – it was in an old department store parking lot, along with twenty or so others. One of them _had _to have some kind of charge, or maybe even the keys still in them.

Hope swelled in her chest as she made a dash to the parking lot, looking around corners and into crumbling buildings as she made her way across the asphalt-turned-field. She could just _leave _if she was lucky enough.

Jiggling on handles and popping her head into those that would easily open, she began rummaging around consoles, inside cup holders, under the floor mats, and in the visors to find anything of use to her.

She found – junk, mostly.

It wasn’t until the twelfth – or thirteenth? – vehicle that she finally found a set of keys.

She heard Sans calling her name from the other parking lot. Connie could either risk leaving now and it fail, or she could be smart about this.

She pocketed the keys, slowly closed the door, and ran over to the vehicle he’d fallen asleep in.

“took ya long enough,” he said.

Shrugging, Connie replied, “I have to pee.”

He made a face, then said, “whatever. just don’t fall behind on yer way back.”

She couldn’t help but feel the edges of the key in her pocket as she wandered off to find a safe place to go, memorizing the shape of its ridges and its weight in her hand. She was going to make sure she got out of here in one piece, and this was her ticket out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO HEY. I went over this quite a few times, but I'm pretty happy with this. I'm trying to not make Sans/Papyrus straight up bloodthirsty or abusive, just really isolated and awkward and rough/manhandle-y if given half a chance. (It might change later, idk. I don't like writing straight gore for the Hell of it lol.)
> 
> Connie is still an idiot, but she's trying to figure out what's going on. She, and most of the population, either don't know or have slowly forgotten the monsters being stuck behind the barrier. So, their worldview is just the same. (However, those at Mt. Ebott never forgot, but that's something else lol.)
> 
> Thank you for your support!
> 
> (edit: btw!! This is the cabin they're staying in, just with a second bedroom. https://browncountylogcabins.com/vacation-rentals/red-cedar-log-cabin/ Also, minus the jacuzzi lol. The bathroom doesn't have the glass for the shower anymore, but I'll focus on that in another chapter.)


	4. Bookish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connie is overthinking a bit too much, and Papyrus realizes in some minor horror he was a poor host.

When Connie came back from using the restroom to retrieve her phone, Sans said he was too tired to keep watching her, so they were leaving. The teenager had half a mind to shoot something snarky back at the monster, but was too excited about the treasure in her pocket to really care about his poor attitude.

Her pocket felt like it was full of lead as they walked away from the town, the press of the foreign object into her leg filling her with giddiness. The closer to the cabin they came, the more impatient Connie felt; she wanted to run back and try to start the damn car and get this experience over with, even if it would’ve ultimately failed.

_ I’m going to get away from here,_ she told herself firmly for the millionth time that afternoon, biting her lip to hide the smile slipping across her mouth. _I just have to be patient a little longer... even if it sucks._

Part of her worried about the brothers’ reactions to finding her with the key, but she tossed the idea as soon as it presented itself; she’d rather die than let them know about the keys. The only way she’d keep this a secret would be to act like this never happened.

High school was good for one thing, at least.

Sure, there was really no way to tell if it would even start the car that she found it in, but at least it was _something;_ Connie didn’t want to be a helpless victim here, waiting on some unreliable plan to get her home safely. She couldn’t keep sitting here pretending that this situation was normal – Hell, she couldn’t even pretend she still wasn’t halfway terrified to early grey hair from the fright they gave her yesterday – but didn’t know enough about these monsters to be sure she’d be safe, _period_.

After all, she’d only been out here for a day; very few people who had gotten lost would be found that very same day. (And, honestly, Connie couldn’t think of Tyler without getting angry and hurt, the confusion bubbling up from these curdling emotions making her nauseous.)

A few times throughout the snail’s pace walk to the cabin, Connie tried asking the monster a few questions – namely, what happened to the monsters in the first place, and why were they above ground now – but either he didn’t hear her or chose to ignore her. The entire time, her fingers itched to reach into the pocket and caress the unfamiliar metal object she stole away from the ruins, but the teenager reached further down her thigh to scratch instead. It gave her something to focus on, even if he wouldn’t humor her curiosities.

Sans caught her scratching once, and finally asked her if she was okay – not in a concerned-for-her-safety way, but more in the are-you-contagious one – and Connie immediately shot back, “I don’t know about you, but rummaging around other people’s garbage makes me feel gross.”

A dark look fell on the skeleton’s face, but in the next instant, it had vanished, replaced with his neutral-bored expression. He didn’t say anything else for the rest of their trek, and Connie was okay with that arrangement.

Walking up the cabin’s steps, Sans knocked once before waltzing inside, calling for his brother before flopping down on the couch – her nest of pillows and blankets gone – with a book in his hands. Papyrus’s voice could be heard in another room, but it sounded a little weird and too distorted for Connie to make the words out. (Sans, however, seemed to understand it perfectly, nodding to himself and muttering something as he placed the book over his face. He started snoring immediately, to the teenager’s absolute horror and fascination.)

Connie decided to stand in the small kitchen_ (far _away from Sans)_,_ taking a moment to fully take in their little home.

It still looked like some holiday getaway, but... old, and sad. She noticed a small crawlspace above the kitchen cabinets, with wooden boxes haphazardly placed on the ledge. (Absentmindedly, she wondered if she could find a ladder to climb up there, or if she’d need to step all over the counters to do so; or, would it be rude to snoop, since she was technically a squatter here?) The fireplace was entirely made of stone, some of the rocks chipped or completely missing that left giant holes in the masonry. And – beyond the old couch Sans now occupied – the furniture was all made from rough wood, looking far from anything Y-CIU had on its furniture line-up.

She wondered how long the brothers had been living here, if Tyler had had Sans’s key for over a decade and they _just _realized it was missing.

Papyrus’s shuffling feet and distorted speech interrupted her thoughts, dragging her back to this moment. She watched as his shoulders brushed the corridor’s ceiling despite crumpling in on himself again, his head swiveling as he worked himself into the living room. (Connie winced at the sound of his scraping and popping bones, sounding far too violent for such a simple action.) His sockets landed on the couch first, the expression on his face souring as he started, his voice booming in the small space, “SANS, YOU LAZY BONES! ARE YOU NOT EVEN WATCHING OUR GUEST? SHE COULD –”

The eldest skeleton simply held up a hand and pointed directly at her, despite not moving the book from his face. Turning in the direction of the finger, Papyrus’s entire demeanor changed as he smiled at the frozen Connie. (She struggled to hold in a wince as her eyes flitted over his mouth, forcing herself to focus on his eyes instead.) “Constance!” he said in his loud-yet-not-screaming tone, walking around the half-wall in the kitchen to stand beside her.

She tried not to focus on the fact that something that would’ve taken her ten steps took him two. Instead, Connie offered him a wave and a soft, “Hello, Papyrus,” trying to keep her tone neutral despite straining to keep his gaze.

“Did You Find What You Were Looking For In Town?” the younger skeleton asked, squatting down to her level. Even at this stance, he was half a head taller than the teenager.

Swallowing past the lump in her throat, Connie said, pulling her phone out of her back pocket, “I haven’t turned it on yet, if you were wondering.”

Breathless, Papyrus continued, “But It Worked?”

“I guess you could say that,” the teenager replied with a shrug, her eyes flitting away from Papyrus’s empty sockets. “Not all of the cars have functioning batteries, so it was mostly a waste of time.”

“could say that again, kid,” Sans muttered from under his book. “could’a been sleepin’ instead.”

His brother threw a glare over his shoulder, sighing exasperatedly in his booming voice, “_SIGH._” (He physically said the word ‘sigh’? How odd.) Its volume shook Connie, almost like she was standing in an open field and thunder cracked directly over her head. “WHY CAN’T YOU BE PRODUCTIVE RATHER THAN NOSY, BROTHER?”

Sans mumbled something about ‘it already being in a book,’ which made Papyrus shriek about “his unoriginal puns” and make another two-stride trek to the couch to snatch the book from over his brother’s face.

She could hear the shit-eating grin through his tone as Sans replied, “sorry bro, i didn’t mean to be too_ foreword_. i just couldn’t read the room, and –” But, whatever he wanted to say after was smothered by Papyrus throwing his gloved hands over the elder skeleton’s mouth.

“No! More! Bad! Puns!” Papyrus hissed, still yelling but no longer booming as he struggled with Sans on the couch. Between his gasps for air, Connie could make out Sans’s voice but not his words, watching as the taller skeleton became more flustered. “Fine! Be Rude!” he eventually shouted, storming away from the couch and back to the kitchen.

Sans remained on the couch, grumbling as his brother took the book with him into the kitchen and laid it carefully on the counter. She caught part of the title, the rest of it too worn out for her to make out: _Reality Is Not_.

It looked interesting enough, but Connie couldn’t even begin to guess what it was supposed to be about.

“Hungry?” Papyrus asked, pulling her once more from her thoughts. Before she could open her mouth and explain she had some food in her bags, he waved a hand and said, “Why Am I Even Asking? It’s Rude To Not Offer A Guest Some Food!” A beat passed, then he gasped, crying out, “OH NO! SANS! WE DIDN’T FEED CONSTANCE YESTERDAY!”

Sans’s only reply was a thumbs up and a quiet grumble.

“No, Papyrus, it’s okay, really, I –” she tried, but her words fell upon deaf ears as he started panicking, pulling this bowl and that cup from the cabinets.

With a laugh (a booming ‘nyeh heh heh!’; which, honestly made Connie laugh herself), the skeleton shouted once more, “NONSENSE! I, The Great Papyrus, Will Never Let You Go Hungry Again!”

Seeing that she wouldn’t be winning this argument, Connie sighed despite the smile on her face. “Okay, then. Can I at least help?”

“If You Insist!” he said in a faux-exasperated tone, pointing to a cabinet as he stretched up to the crawlspace above the kitchen. “Grab A Pot And Fill It With Water.”

Quickly, the teenager did as she was instructed, glad she wasn’t just standing around. (It’d be _weird_; this situation was weird enough, and she didn’t want to pile anything else onto that fact.) But... this was nice, if only because this was the most normal thing that had happened to her so far.

Connie wouldn’t complain, if this was how this _experience _was going to turn out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I rewrote this about a dozen times, but hey!! A short chapter compared to that last beast is nice, right?? At least it's a post lmao.
> 
> Again, this is the cabin I'm imagining for the brothers, only there's a second bedroom and the glass for the bathroom isn't there. I'll focus more on that later though. :) https://browncountylogcabins.com/vacation-rentals/red-cedar-log-cabin/
> 
> I hope y'all enjoy this short update!!


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